BubbleStream

Helga Zeiner

Section 132

Synopsis

Lillian grows up in an American fundamentalist Mormon sect. At thirteen she becomes the child bride of a Canadian Bishop. His compound is located deep in the wilderness of British Columbia, totally isolated from the rest of the world.
When the land developer Richard Bergman buys the property next to the Bishop’s land, he learns that Lillian tries to escape from the compound. But he knows that Section 132 is the covenant of plural marriage dictated by Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith.
Should Richard Bergman get involved or should he respect the concept of religious freedom so foreign to him? Find out how he decides to solve this moral dilemma.
If you enjoy reading about a life-style so foreign that it’s hard to imagine it still exists in our civilized world, this novel will keep you on edge until you turned the last page.

Author Biography

Helga Zeiner is a German born Canadian author. She left her home town Augsburg at age eighteen to explore the world. In the following fourteen years she has lived and worked in Australia and Asia, writing in her spare time.
Several of her thrilling novels have been on the Amazon bestseller list and enjoy an enthusiastic fan base.
She now lives with her husband on a country estate in the wilderness of British Columbia, devoting all her time to writing.

Author Insight

The story of a child bride

My protagonist - an under-age girl - is forced into marriage. How can I shape a character if I have never experienced what poor Lillian is going through? I wanted to give the image in my mind a realistic portray for my readers. Knowing that this child--bride horror happens even in our civilized western world, I contacted different groups who work with 'survivors' of polygamous cults. Through them I was lucky enough to find women who had experienced the trauma associated with forced marriage and were willing to talk to me. After that, Lillian became what I call my companion while writing the novel, and she surprised me constantly with her reactions trying to find a way out of the cult. I watched her becoming strong and independent, and I'm still a bit proud of how she turned out to be.

Book Excerpt

Section 132

The moment she had been groomed for all her life was imminent. Lillian was shaking with anticipation, but she tried to hide the telltale signs by sitting on her hands to squash the tremors. She mustn’t worry so much. It would all be perfect and wonderful.

Dear Lord, in just a few moments she’d meet her future husband. He would marry her, he would be loving and caring, and he would be the most wonderful man that ever existed on this earth. In turn, she would adore him, worship him, and eventually she would love him with all her heart.

Nobody expected her to love him right away, but she would in time. Wasn’t that what her mother had told her? After all, she was just a silly girl, she didn’t understand the wisdom behind the choices made for her. Choices made by men. They always knew what was right. It was not her place to questions their motives, or those of her future husband for that matter. All she knew was that this great man had agreed to marry her, although she was a nobody, a young girl from down south who knew nothing of the world. She only knew life as it was on her father’s secluded Bright Desert Light compound, hidden somewhere in the mountain range that separated Arizona and New Mexico.